Ken Miles

Ken Miles (front right with helmet)

Ford GT40, winning car from Miles / Ruby in the 1966 Daytona 24-hour race

Kenneth Henry "Ken" Miles (born November 1, 1918 in Sutton Coldfield , † August 17, 1966 in Riverside ) was a British racing driver .

Life

Ken Miles, who with the Lotus - 1 Formula pilots John Miles was not related, grew up near Birmingham in, a city in which during the interwar years with Rover and MG were home to two major British automotive manufacturer. Miles trained as a vehicle engineer and worked in the UK vehicle industry until the start of World War II .

After the end of the war - he left the army in 1946 as a sergeant in a tank unit - he returned to work in the automotive industry and increasingly turned to motorsport. After a few attempts in motorcycle racing , he bought a Frazer-Nash in the early 1950s and drove it to club and hill climbs. After a few unproductive attempts in Formula 3 , he went to the USA in 1952 as MG Service Manager for Southern California . In his spare time he drove various models of MG sports car races. These vehicles were converted and serviced by himself.

When the first Porsche racing cars came to the USA, he was one of the first to use the fast and light Spyder on the racetrack. Miles won countless class wins on Porsche before he met Carroll Shelby . Miles became a works driver at Shelby American and competed in all major sports car races with the AC Cobra 427 and the Ford GT40 .

His most successful season was in 1966 when he was already 47 years old. He won with Lloyd Ruby , the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring . He missed victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans , where he competed for the first time in 1955, by just 40 meters. Henry Ford II wanted to celebrate his first triumph at Le Mans with a dead race . The two leading GT40s from McLaren / Amon and Hulme / Miles crossed the finish line in parallel after 24 hours and 360 laps. The ACO officials , however, thwarted the idea when they awarded the victory to the McLaren / Amon duo, who started 40 meters behind the Miles car, as this team had covered the longer distance (40 meters).

Miles died that same year during a test drive with one of the Ford J-Car prototypes - which were used as the Ford GT40 MK IV in 1967 in the major sports car races - in Riverside . The car suddenly swerved at the end of a straight, overturned several times and caught fire. Miles died of serious head injuries at the scene of the accident. The exact cause of the accident could never be clarified.

Movie

In the 2019 film Le Mans 66 - Against Any Chance , which themed the duel between Ford and Ferrari for the overall victory in Le Mans 1966, Ken Miles was played by the British actor Christian Bale . Matt Damon played Carroll Shelby.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1955	MG Cars Ltd.	MG EX182	Johnny Lockett	Rank 12
1965	Shelby American Inc.	Ford GT40	Bruce McLaren	failure	Engine failure
1966	Shelby American Inc.	Ford GT40	Denis Hulme	Rank 2

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1957	Jean-Pierre Kunstle	Porsche 550 RS	Jean-Pierre Kunstle	Rank 9
1958	Jean-Pierre Kunstle	Porsche 550 RS	Jean-Pierre Kunstle	failure	Clutch damage
1959	Precision Motors	Porsche 718 RSK	Jack McAfee	Rank 8
1962	Rootes Motors	Sunbeam Alpine	Lew Spencer	failure	Engine failure
1963	Ed Hugus	Shelby Cobra	Lew Spencer	Rank 11
1964	Shelby American Corp.	Shelby Cobra 427	John Morton	failure	Engine failure
1965	Al Dowd	Ford GT40	Bruce McLaren	Rank 2 and class win
1966	Shelby American Inc.	Ford X1 Roadster	Lloyd Ruby	Overall victory

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1955	MG	MG EX182	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
						12
1957	Jean-Pierre Kunstle	Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
				9
1958	Jean-Pierre Kunstle	Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
				DNF
1959	Precision Motors	Porsche 718 RSK	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
			8th
1962	Rootes Motors	Sunbeam Alpine	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
					DNF
1963	Ed Hugus Vic Damone	Shelby Cobra	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
					11																			2
1964	Carroll Shelby International	Shelby Cobra	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
				DNF																	4th
1965	Al Dowd Carroll Shelby International	Ford GT40	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
			1	2			3							DNF
1966	Carroll Shelby International	Ford GT40	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
			1	1					2

literature

• Ken Breslauer: Sebring. The official History of America's Great Sports Car Race. David Bull, Cambridge MA 1995, ISBN 0-9649722-0-4 .
• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .
• RM Clarke: Le Mans. The Jaguar Years 1949-1957. Brooklands Books, Cobham 1997, ISBN 1-85520-357-X .
• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

Commons : Ken Miles  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Image: Ken Miles
• Ken Miles at Racing Sports Cars
• Biography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ About the film Le Mans 66 (English)